Lowered output quality

[Regular User]

When I want to convert flac to mp3 I choose VBR and insanely high quality (~320kbps), but the output file is always 190kbps only and not revolving 288kbps (as v0 use to be). I don't know if the fix on 1.4.4 accounted for this situation but it's still there on 1.5 (even though I tested 1.4.4 back then and the bug was really fixed).

[GautierPortet (kassoulet)]

This is fixed in soon-to-be-released 2.0 branch.

[Regular User (dot.ru)]

But wasn't it fixed on an earlier release? I reviewed a 1.4.4 release that
I had around and the problem was still present there. What's different
about the issue from the previously fixed one?

On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 6:14 AM, GautierPortet <email address hidden> wrote:

> This is fixed in soon-to-be-released 2.0 branch.
>
> ** Changed in: soundconverter
> Milestone: None => 1.5.3
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/911533
>
> Title:
> Lowered output quality
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/soundconverter/+bug/911533/+subscriptions
>

[GautierPortet (kassoulet)]

It was fixed in 1.4.4. And the fix is still there in 1.5.4.
Can you try the conversion with "soundconverter --debug" and paste the resulting output here, so we can see what is happening ?

I just tested a flac -> mp3 conversion, and the resulting bitrate is 243kbps, as expected.

[GautierPortet (kassoulet)]

* I just tested with 1.5.4

[Regular User (dot.ru)]

Attached is the partial debug output (some of the file loading got cutoff
so I opened soundconverter again and loaded the files, I didn't have the
time to reconvert the files again since all the info was still there...).
And a screenshot of the preferences for V0 and 320. There doesn't seem to
be a problem with CBR 320kbps.

You tell me if this is behaving as it should. The resulting files here have
kbps around 230kbps. The conversion command seems to set vbr to 4 when it
should say vbr=0 on the VBR conversion.

Thanks for paying attention to this.

On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 7:03 AM, GautierPortet <email address hidden> wrote:

> It was fixed in 1.4.4. And the fix is still there in 1.5.4.
> Can you try the conversion with "soundconverter --debug" and paste the
> resulting output here, so we can see what is happening ?
>
> I just tested a flac -> mp3 conversion, and the resulting bitrate is
> 243kbps, as expected.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/911533
>
> Title:
> Lowered output quality
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/soundconverter/+bug/911533/+subscriptions
>

[GautierPortet (kassoulet)]

Ok, time for a little explanation of your conversion log:
This is the command given to gstreamer's lame element: "lame quality=2 vbr=4 vbr-max-bitrate=320 vbr-quality=0"
and the meaning is:
  quality=2 -> internal to lame, increase algorithmic quality, OK
  vbr=4 -> use new VBR mode, OK
  vbr-max-bitrate=320 -> use 320 kbps as maximum bitrate, OK, this was the problem in pre-1.4.4 versions, the default value is 160 IIRC.
  vbr-quality=0 -> the famous V0

Everything is fine here.
So what's wrong in the output file? Just nothing. The VBR mode means to adapt the bitrate (audio quality in output) to the encoded signal. That's why two different files will results in two different bitrates, it depends of what is needed to encode.

Now, if you're sure the bitrate is wrong with soundconverter, attach here the original file and I'll investigate more.